APRIL 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

[sodder]

APRIL 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to April's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: ENCHANTMENT HORROR.

All Test Drive Memes contain at least one clue to the Deerington's upcoming in-game events for the month! Keep your eyes peeled! But...not literally.

Characters may die during TDMs, but you do not need to count it towards a game-canonical death unless you want to. Consider it a freebie. All TDMs can be considered game canon as TDMs introduce minor aspects about the world of Deerington that can be revisited by characters later on in the game. You may also use TDMs for your application writing sample as well as AC.

CW: Enchanted food, possible body horror, mild finger injuries, magic based mind control, rapid aging, possible death
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

YOU UNCULTURED SWINE

Pork is on sale!! Time to buy it up for all your family meals. It also means anything with pork in it in all of the restaurants is on special and super affordable for just about anyone. New arrivals can even get a free meal of bacon, sausage and eggs at the diner! Seeing all the low prices, you find yourself craving pork more than ever. But who doesn't love bacon, right? Maybe you had ham and pineapple pizza at Peter's or those delicious and mouthwatering pork dumplings at the Hot Pot. You could have cooked a nice pork loin with your friends and family for a large get together. Candied bacon is a real treat to munch on in the park!

You're cooking it yourself or getting it from the local restaurants, so nothing bad could happen with a little self-indulgence, right? Just about everyone has learned not to trust the food at a giant feast in Deerington, but short of the lunch and dinner menus at the diner, the restaurants and the grocery store have never done a Sleeper harm! At least, that's the way it's always been before. Two years is long enough to start taking things for granted.

Anyone who has any of the specials from the restaurants or who cooks any kind of pork related product at home will find that once they have finished their meal, they will slowly turn into... pigs. It seems to vary on how fast a single person turns, some moving slowly over the course of days while they eat more and more food, and others will turn into a full blown pig in a manner of minutes. At first you can still talk to others and display your usual personality in pig form, but the longer you stay a pig, the more boarish you'll become.

So how do you break the curse? Locals say there's a magic stream up on the mountain that will stop these kinds of enchantments, but you can't go alone. Someone will have to carry you up and sing to you while you drink. It might be a friend or a lover or a complete stranger, but whoever you can nudge into it will have to physically carry you in their arms up the side of the mountain looking for this stream. It can take a while— the walk is fairly long, a few hours at best, but you'll know it when you find it. The stream sparkles unnaturally in the sunlight and it seems like none of the animals are willing to drink from it's unnaturally cold waters. The moment you take a long sip while your companion sings whatever song pops into their head, you'll turn back into a human. Hopefully your clothes turn back with you.

If your character does not eat meat/pork, then they'll be safe from this event!

GOOD ENDURES

Mirror mirror on the wall...

The pork doesn't seem to be the only enchanted object around Deerington this month. There are several of them cropping up all over the place and each one has a different outcome for those unfortunate enough to run into them.

Spinning wheels seem to be in the most random of places. Some of them will even just appear in your house. Sometimes multiple spinning wheels show up. Anyone who gets to close will have the strong urge to prick their finger on the spindle, the needle very easily cutting the tip and making you bleed more than you might have expected. Hopefully you have a first aid kit around.

Anyone who pricks their finger will find that they are forced to follow the next person they see around everywhere. They'll follow them to work, to school, to the bathroom, to the kitchen, even to bed. It doesn't matter if it's someone you've never spoken to in your life, you will follow them like a lost duckling every hour of every day. It's enough to drive anyone bonkers.

Mirrors will also suddenly be being displayed in every home and every shop, even if you never had them before. It doesn't matter whether or not you have a reflection, any person who looks into the mirror will find that they are forced to imitate the next person they make eye contact with. This can be their personality, their posture, the way they speak, their basic movements— you'll start to become a total mirror image. If it goes on too long, you might even start to find the two of you start to look more and more alike...

Apples start to pop up in all the stores as well as in your fridges. They're bright red and look so delicious, you can't resist taking a bite. Even if you don't like apples or are normally allergic to them, you'll want to eat these, and you'll find they taste delicious and don't bring harm to anyone. At least... not at first.

A few hours after eating the apple, you'll start to notice differences in your appearance. Your hair has start to thin and become gray and limp, your skin is wrinkled and covered in spots, your hands become frail and shaky. You're aging, and rapidly at that. Before you know it, you've turned into a hideous hag, one that would frighten children in any fairy tale book. But how do you reverse it?

The cure for all three enchantments is to tell three facts about yourself. Even just introducing yourself will show improvement if it's to someone who never knew your name before. Those who ate the apples will have to seek someone out, but anyone who pricked their finger or looked in a mirror will specifically have to confess these three facts to the person they're enchanted to follow/imitate. Once three facts have been shared, you'll be able to leave, return to normal, and age back to your regular self.

Character Arrival

You can read how all characters arrive in Deerington here.

There is not a collective "all these characters showed up at the exact same moment" occurrence in Deerington. Since characters fall asleep, die, or pass out at various times throughout all their worlds, it wouldn't make too much sense if they arrived in game all at the exact same time. There should be some discrepancy between character arrival, whether by a couple minutes, hours, or even days up to a week.

The players are entirely in control of how/when they want to play their characters arriving in Deerington. For TDMs, you can play it like your character has just arrived and that can be maintained as your game canon, or you can wait until game events for that moment. Or you don't need to acknowledge it at all. The flexibility for character allows a bit more of an organic feel to the character arrival situation, so please play it to whatever feels right for you.

If you are interested in having an "arrival" introduction for one of your TDM prompts, you are more than welcome to explore that option.

Comments

Tony Stark | MCU | OTA

[doesntpaint]

Uncultured Swine

Let it be known that Tony likes food. It doesn't matter what kind of food it is, whether it's pizza, burgers, or just plain old pork on a stick. Well, pork in any form is fine with him. So naturally, he follows his nose and comes across a veritable feast of pork.

There doesn't seem to be anyone dictating who gets to eat and who doesn't, and besides: he's in a restaurant. "No one minds if I just dig in, right?" He pauses for about five seconds as if waiting for an answer. When nothing comes within that timeframe, he doesn't waste anymore time waiting and just takes a bite of an impressively sized pork chop.

network | text | un: starked

Hey, so, any kind souls want to give a guy a hand? I figured out already that pork = bad, but- What else am I missing?

Sure, I could work it out myself, but I like a good crash course.

Any takers? And while we're at it, what's the tech situation like around here? Inquiring minds want to know.

A guy's gotta keep himself busy, right?

[ Never mind that "busy" is synonymous with "a distraction from things he doesn't want to think about" for Tony more often than not. ]

Wildcard

[ Want to do something else with Tony? Feel free to hit me up here. I'm game for any prompt or situation, even if it's just your character bumping into Tony while he wanders around. I'm still deciding on which canonpoint I want to use, but for purposes of this tdm, I'm going with post-Endgame. ]

Text UN: Feedthebunny

[lightthedarkness]

[Kind soul, you say, Tony? Well, Usagi is here to help.]

OH NO! ( : ౦ ‸ ౦ : ) ! Are you okay! Are you still transforming? I can help you get back to your actual shape if no one has helped with that yet!

It super sucks that we can't trust any of the food here! ＼(º □ º l|l)/ I was told to only eat stuff you make yourself or from other Sleepers. ( ˘▽˘)っ♨

Do you need me to come and get you?

aw she's adorable squishes

[doesntpaint]

Whoa, hold up a second.

[ Excuse him while he tries to inspect himself for anything amiss. ]

Uh, I think it's safe to say I'm still transforming. At least, I didn't have a pig's tail the last time I checked. How can you help with that? You're not some kind of witch, are you?

[ So much for pork on a stick being harmless. ]

Hee thank you, I try

[lightthedarkness]

Oh no, not a witch, but I had to help someone else who got turned into a pig earlier today. ( ´(00)ˋ )

You are in safe hands! (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b

[doesntpaint]

Well, beggars can't be choosers, so- You're offering, I'm accepting.

How do we fix this?

un: barnes

[lednikovyy]

[ Bucky just attaches a picture of his hand. It's the right one, of course. No need to show off the chrome. ]

[doesntpaint]

Oh, that's clever. Thanks for the help.

[ He did walk right into that one, though. ]

[lednikovyy]

couldn't help it. are you currently in Murder Bucky Mode or are we on speaking terms this time?

[ He's too tired to not just jump at it head-on. ]

[doesntpaint]

Gee

How'd you know? I'm just dying to go on a Murder Bucky rampage.

Yeah, we're on speaking terms this time.

Text; un: Mysterio

[mysterioisthetruth]

The tech is highly lacking in most areas.

[Tony is the last person Beck wants to see - but he can't help poking him just a bit. With the username 'Mysterio', he shouldn't even be recognized until he either shows his face or says his name. At least, that's what he assumes - unless this isn't the Tony from his exact world.]

[doesntpaint]

Figures.

Can anything be done about that?

[ No, "Mysterio" isn't ringing any bells, but maybe that's a good thing. ]

[mysterioisthetruth]

I'm sure some enterprising hero could make a difference.

[Of course he's talking about himself, not Tony.]

my fingers don't want to type Mysterio. They keep trying to make it Mysterious smh

[doesntpaint]

Yeah, well, if you find one of those, look me up.

[ Of course he is. And Tony won't be holding his breath, unfortunately. Sorry, Mysterio. ]

text. un: (√-💩)²

[vlogged]

the deer and the dogs=good
locals=bad
sleepers=it varies



is this
whats your name?

[doesntpaint]

Deer and dogs. Got it.
Locals and sleepers, not so much. Okay. Whatever that means.

It's Santa Claus, ho ho ho.

[ He gives about a three second pause and then he adds: ]

You said 'is this'
Which implies you think I'm someone
Any someone in particular?

[vlogged]

i kinda thought you might be someone i know
with that username i mean
starked=stark=tony stark?
guess im kinda jumping to conclusions though
sorry santa

Re: Tony Stark | MCU | OTA

[imarealistnotacynic]

[Here's a bearded guy who has been tracking what he's terming "pig outbreak" because it's a hell of an infection staring at the man with the pork.]

Don't swallow that! There's some kind of case of food poisoning going around!

[He's used to people thinking that he's crazy, a number of people have been giving him looks but when someone nearby pops into a large pig that promptly snaps the chair he points.]

[doesntpaint]

[ As luck would have it, Tony's just gotten a mouthful of the pork, but hasn't swallowed it yet when the bearded guy's warning comes. Don't mind him if he talks with his mouthful. ]

Yeah? What kind of food poisoning are we talking here?

[ If it's the puking over the toilet kind, then of course he's gonna spit that thing right out. ]

[imarealistnotacynic]

Something close to it. Some kind of...fungal mutation that's -

[He gestures at one of the patrons how - with a pop - falls to the floor with a squeal, tangled in her clothes.]

Doing that. Near as I can figure.

text; un: rjb [ misfire plot ] - wildcard

[oversight]

I've been thinking about it, and I want to do something nice for Hulk.

[[ For more info on the misfire plot, you can go here! ]]

[doesntpaint]

Hulk, as in really big green guy?

What, is it his birthday or something?

[oversight]

Wait. Is this Tony??

uncultured swine

[quipsandthwips]

THWIP.

A thin web hits the piece of pork on Stark's fork and yanks it clear of his chompers, flinging the bite into some poor towns person's soup in the distance (they're pastel-haired, okay, they can turn into a pig on their time). As he does this quick, easy task, he says with a chipper tone:

"I would not do that."

Peter Parker is sitting in the restaurant as well, with a stack of student papers next to him, expecting to get a little fresh air from the high school and eat something good in the process. But he's absolutely noticed (1) Tony Stark unknowingly heading toward Piggy Town. So, yanno. Spider-Man to the rescue?

[doesntpaint]

"Whoa, flying pork. Okay." The webbing coming out of nowhere is startling, even though Tony's seen it more than once, but that was not something he was expecting.

"Guess I'm not gonna do anything now, since you effectively threw my lunch away." He's not annoyed, though, even if his words might hint at that. It's just part and parcel of knowing one Peter Parker. "It's fine, I wasn't hungry anyway." He really wasn't, but the smell of cooking pork was enticing.

[quipsandthwips]

"Really? Because you were staring that hunk of pork down pretty good."

Peter just smiles up at him, somewhat apologetic. That's how it is sometimes, Tony; sometimes you gotta just ruin a perfectly good pig-themed dinner. He sits up a little more in his chair, pushing aside an essay on blah-blah-blah-fancy-science. "For the best, pal. You wouldn't want to do turning into a pig that wins 'best goatee' at the county fair."